3.29.2006

This morning, Metro Transit Police swept the Stadium-Armory stop on the Blue/Orange line. Their reason? Responding to a tip concerning an unattended bag? Sadly, no. They were sweeping the station to step up their visibility. Metro claims that this will show Metro commuters that they can feel safe making the perilous commute from Largo to Metro Center.

Anytime a government agency is doing something soley to reassure its constituents, that's usually bad news. Anyone who felt safer seeing these bomb-sniffing dogs moving from train to train is, well, retarded. I would feel safer knowing that Metro Transit Police was, you know, actually policing. Instead, they're out performing a dress rehearsal.

I have never hoped for a terrorist attack before, but I want one to smack the Metro next time these guys are doing this. I want anthrax or TNT to be found in the furthest stop from their next public relations farce*. Perhaps then they'll see that sending bomb-sniffing dogs to Metro stops just to prove to commuters that they actually exist is a folly. These little play-acting games actually make us less safe. So, way to go Metro Transit Police. Thank you for valuing public relations over the safety of your customers. You fuckwits.

And I wish I were more familiar with the demographics of the early morning Blue/Orange rush over by the Armory. Looking at the surrounding stops, I'm going to go out on a limb and guess that a heavy majority of the Metro riders during this sweep were black. If I'm wrong, please don't hesitate to correct me. But I doubt I'm wrong. I've been to Minnesota Avenue before. Not a white person to be seen.

You think Metro would pull this shit in the white parts of town? It would be a miracle to see bomb-sniffing dogs in Friendship Heights. Unless, of course, there's actually a bomb. Metro: incompetent and kind of racist.

I would love to respond to your criticisms, but your comment made no fucking sense. Try harder next time. I'll give it a shot though.

If the sweeps are helpful for the would-be terrorists, aren't the sweeps bad?

And, yes DC is mostly black. But that part of the city is heavily black. Upper NW, not so much. In fact, you may find a heavy majority of white people there. We live in a segregated city. So, yes, targeting a black area and inconveniencing and scaring the bejesus out of black people is indeed kind of racist.

I wonder who turdhead voted for.... Doesn't seem like a head buried in the sand dumb fuck at all... and lets say they find a suicide bomber on the train full of people, I wonder what he would do then? maybe blow himself up anyways. and why are these numb nuts carrying automatic assault rifles? I would assume because they might need them. I would rather take my chances with the suicide bomber than have some untrained metro cop letting off an automatic weapon on the train....

hmmm...i thought perhaps you might have inferred that I mean it's not actually good for the terrorists, but in helping preventing the clowns from blowing up a metro train. anyone who blows themself up, flies into a building, etc. is a fucking moron.

my point simply stated is as follows: who knows if these shows of force work really? Perhaps they do work in training the cops. But to write them off completely is stupid.

The fact that they picked a metro station in a black neighborhood = a racist motivation is simply horseshit. The mayor of this city is black as is the police comissioner. And as for black people having the "bejesus" scared out of them, please...stop patronizing.

Yes. The Mayor is black. The Police Commissioner, too. Also the Council Chair. Acting director of Metro? White. Metro Transit Police Chief? White. Rosslyn would probably have been a far better choice for these sweeps, considering more traffic goes through that station, and it's closer to potential targets.

The last random sweeps I remember occurred at the Fort Totten Station, another hotbed for black--er--terrorist activity.

First of all, turdhead, it's ad hominem. If you're going to use big words, learn to spell them.

Secondly, I saw the 60 minutes expose on the NYC police force. You also may remember that they have a multi-million dollar operation set up to curtail terrorism. DC, meanwhile, is only willing to spend any money (and a lot of it) if it involves funding a BILLION (that's with a 'B') DOLLAR baseball stadium. But certainly not repair a dilapidated school district, help out with a double digit unemployment rate, etc. etc. etc.

Finally, why is it necessary to have so many dogs at one station, but not spread out throughout the entire system? Why aren't they on Metro EVERYDAY??? How bout going to someplace like, say, Union Station (train stations seem to be a hotspot for terrorists)?

P.S. - Your comment that terrorists "...aren't exactly brain surgeons" would be a little better received if we could actually find them. Go back tot he trailer and have another High Life.

Stadium Armory? Fort Totten?Cleveland Park? Just about any station not in the heart of the city can considered a racist selection. How about Fairfax, Bethesda, Eisnehower Ave...I guess Metro would be looking out for it's white patrons. I doubt race or scaring the "bejesus" (talk about racist stereotypes) out of blacks was part of the decision. Not all blacks/minorities are scared of Police.

I meant that anyone would be scared once a bunch of bomb-sniffing dogs got on the same train as you. That's gotta be insanely worrisome. I didn't mean for it to come across as "all black people are afraid of the police."

I can see where there was a misunderstanding and I'll be more careful with how I phrase things.

"Transit officers have already conducted station and train inspections at several other stations including Columbia Heights, Foggy Bottom, Suitland, Anacostia, East Falls Church and Fort Totten."

Columbia Heights, Foggy Bottom and East Falls Church aren't exactly the centers of black neighborhoods they used to be.

Also, the article states that these inspections will be done at random and will be held indefinitely.

Sure these inspections are a nuisance. Sure they may not be the best possible way to protect the riding public. But they aren't a detriment to riders and they give MTP much needed practice. That has to count for something, no?

I love public disaster drills! I was in high school during the Columbine days, and we had bomb drills all the time. And in college we had a super loud siren go off once every month.These drills are just a constant reminder that I need to go to my anarchist meeting.

"Secondly, I saw the 60 minutes expose on the NYC police force. You also may remember that they have a multi-million dollar operation set up to curtail terrorism. DC, meanwhile, is only willing to spend any money (and a lot of it) if it involves funding a BILLION (that's with a 'B') DOLLAR baseball stadium. But certainly not repair a dilapidated school district, help out with a double digit unemployment rate, etc. etc. etc."

So, since DC does not have a multi-million dollar operation set up then it is not justified in conducting one show of force? hmmm... As far as the baseball stadium goes, I imagine some people may have been thinking long term on that--it might perhaps create some jobs and bring in tax revenue, as well as bring a source of some joy to this shithole.

And, what is this, a zero sum game? They can only do one thing and not the other?

As far as your comment about me going back to my trailer, it cracked me up. I guess claiming that someone who flies into a building is a fucking moron or that a show of force at a metro station in a predominately black neighborhood does not equate with racism makes me an MGD fan.

I didn't say any of those locations were "cracker central". I just said they aren't "the centers of black neighborhoods they used to be." I stand by my comments.

I agree that reading one Post article does not make one a credible D.C. expert. I never claimed to be one. I do think living my whole life in and around this city gives me a perspective that most others in the District can't have. I think it also gives me a credibility that few others can claim.

I had to suffer through more than one Barry administration. I've seen the culture of corruption, waste, abuse, and fraud that plagued this city for decades. I'm happy to see a change in that culture.

It's great to have an influx of new people and ideas into the District. It's great to see the city government and the public transportation slowly waking from their indifferential stupor.

You wouldn't have seen this type of activity from Metro even 2 years ago. As protective measures go, this may be a small step. But it's a step in the right direction.

I'll admit that my "this is kind of racist" comment was kind of shot down (by robbie, not by turdhead). Fair enough.

But, robbie, I still don't see how this makes DC any safer. Metro even admitted that these sweeps aren't meant to make the Metro safer, but are rather to increase visibility. It's a stunt. How can a stunt be a step in the right direction?

Let me answer your question with a question, if that's okay. Before they started random inspections, what was Metro doing before? Does anyone remember seeing any MTP in and around stations or bus stops? I don't.

This isn't a panacea to Metro's security woes. And, granted, visibility doesn't necessarilly equal security. It does, on the whole, give the impression of security and that's where the first step is.

I am going to go out on a limb and assume that Metro is, and has been, safe. The appearance of safety means nothing. There was an appearance of safety on 9/11. I bet people felt safe walking through those metal detectors. Doesn't mean they were safe though.

Building false confidence is counter-productive. If Metro wants to put a cop at every station, fine by me. I would feel safer from muggers. But these sweeps are over the top and unnecessary.

This whole argument has gotten out of hand. What did Miller High Life do to you all? It is a highly tasty beverage that goes down smooth. I think you owe us non-tralier living High Life drinkers an apology!!!!

"I'll admit that my "this is kind of racist" comment was kind of shot down (by robbie, not by turdhead). Fair enough."

The only reason you say that is because he scared you into thinking that you might have indeed been racist in using "bejesus." Your radar was buzzing.

Come off it for fuck sake. Anyone who can instantly claim that a police force run by a black man in a city that is 65% black and whose mayor is black was racist in sweeping a metro station in a predominately black neighborhood is a joker.

The accusations came with caveats. I didn't know about the previous sweeps (I watch the morning news and this is the first time they featured them) and I didn't even know if that line at that time was mostly black. I assumed it was because of the neighborhood.

Turdhead, you need to open your eyes to how segregated this city is. A black mayor and black city officials don't cleanse this city's race issues. The people who run the city are federal politicians (almost all white) and the wealthy K-Street types (almost all white). Racism here is alive and well.

Rusty, I don't doubt that racism is alive and well in D.C. It's a serious problem. There is no real middle class because there are no real blue collar jobs. You are either dirt poor (mostly black) living in projects or you're a hipster yuppy whitebread colonizing areas that haven't seen white faces since the 1950s. This is true in other areas as well. Witness "old town" Alexandria on route 1 where there are *literally* million dollar homes across the street from shitbag projects. Don't think that deepens racist tendencies? Mommie, why are all the black kids in my school on food stamps?

Okay, well... it's also worth noting that the Metro system itself is inherently racist and classist. One only need take a look at the Red line (which serves affluent neighborhoods in Maryland by doubling back on itself and neatly avoids heading any further south than Metro Center) and the Green Line (which serves low-income, black neighborhoods from Prince George's County to Anacostia by way of the poorer neighborhoods in northeast). Note that these two lines have very little interaction, and are both aligned in a very different configuration from what I'd think would be a common sense, direct route.Conspiracy theory?

Um, wouldn't the demographic of the early morning blue/orange line rush be mixed? All sorts of people commute from Annapolis and points east by catching the train at New Carrolton, yeah? And isn't Stadium/Armory a park and ride? And not to point out what you've already conceded, but I've seen guns and dogs at Branch Ave (which also has a fair amount of white, Southern MD commuter traffic), Union Station, Metro Center, Farragut North and Woodley Park/Zoo. Seems a fair distribution to me.

Also, gene cowan, you need to take into account the history of Metro. As far as I knew, the Red Line came first. Just looking at the design I would guess it was meant to help get commuters from the Wisconsin/Connecticut and Georgia/New Hampshire Ave corridors into the city. In the 70s, Montgomery had the heaviest suburban population. The Green Line was built much later, and extended as suburban PG grew less rural. As a matter of fact, the Branch Ave parking lot was my great-grandfather's farm until Metro bought it in the mid-nineties.

Stadium Armory is actually in the area of the city that is the most evenly mixed as far as black/white. It happens to be my metro stop and on my street the houses practically go black-white-black-white.